Microsoft account security confirmation - is this a scam?

My friend just got 2 e-mails purporting to be from Microsoft Account Team.

The first one says her Microsoft account has been renamed. The renaming takes her current gmail address and changes 1 character in it.

The email then says:

If this is correct, you don't need to do anything.

If this is incorrect, please follow these steps:
1. Reset your password by going to https://account.live.com/password/Reset
2. Rename your account by going to https://account.live.com/

Thanks,
The Microsoft account team

The second email is titled Verify Your Email Address.

There is a link to verify her current (i.e. UNchanged gmail address) and she is told she may be asked to enter a security code. There is also a link to click if she didn't make the request to verify the account.

She DOES NOT have a Microsoft account to her knowledge.

Has anyone else encountered this, which is presumably a scam?

This sounds to me to be someone trying to take over her MS account. It appears she indeed does have one. Perhaps she created it long ago and forgot about it? If the links you posted are copied from the email, when I hover my mouse over them, I can see they are legitimate links. With the breach of Equifax, I expect we will see a lot of this now, as it revealed a tremendous amount of confidential information. I would recover the MS account and change the password, and keep an eye on it.

Just make sure the links you are clicking on are legitimate!

Thank you for your replies, @simrick and @yu gnomi. I will pass these on to my friend. Also advised her to change her gmail password as she's not in the habit of doing this.

SaggyMaggyPoo said:

Thank you for your replies, @simrick and @yu gnomi. I will pass these on to my friend. Also advised her to change her gmail password as she's not in the habit of doing this.

Cheers!